Delightfully-crunchy homemade granola with the delicious combination of bananas and pecans—You’ll never buy store-bought granola again!
I could seriously eat my weight in homemade granola.
Hey, it’s healthy—Zero guilt, right?
I don’t know about you guys, but the store-bought granola? So not worth it’s $10 price per box. And have you even SEEN the ingredients in most boxed granola?? I seriously can’t even recognize half the ingredients.
Make it homemade to save your tastebuds AND money. Please, just do it.
For today’s granola, I opted to go a little on the simple side—Nothing too fancy going on in this granola, making it breeze to prepare. Our main flavors today? Bananas and pecans—A match made in heaven for sure. 😉
It just fills your kitchen with the most amazing nutty, vanilla-y scent while it bakes. ♥
This granola is slightly similar to my Maple Nut Granola that I posted a few months ago—using many of the same basic granola ingredients and techniques, except I mixed things up a little bit in THIS granola and added mashed banana and extra pecans.
The secret to this granola’s amazing crunch, is one word: Stirring. You must stir the granola every 10 minutes while it bakes for 40 minutes. This will ensure that your granola will evenly crisp up while it bakes.
I explain how I get my granola extra-crunchy (but not tooth-shattering!) in detail in this post. It’s so easy it’s mind-boggling.
The edges of your granola will just start to turn brown when it is done. Be careful not to overbake your granola. Burned granola is the worst, take it from me.
Make sure that you let your granola cool completely before serving or storing—This will take at least an hour.
Take it from me: Waiting for the granola to cool is unbelievably tough, but it’s necessary for your granola to cool completely before digging in, so it will develop that awesome crunch. Once my batch of granola was done cooling I couldn’t help picking out a “few” handfuls to munch on—It gave me energy for the rest of the afternoon and helped power me through *ahem* a boatload of dishes. 😉
Add-ins for this granola are totally up to you! The possibilities are endless….Dried blueberries, dried cranberries, raisins, dried bananas, chopped-up dates, even chocolate chips!
It also makes a super-big batch. Breakfast is made for me for the next few days!
Banana Pecan Granola
Ingredients
- 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup oat bran
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 medium ripe bananas mashed
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Dried bananas or optional add-ins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combined oats, coconut, pecans, bran, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate medium bowl, whisk mashed banana, oil, syrup, and vanilla until smooth. Pour over dry mixture and stir until mixture is moistened.
- Spread granola mixture between prepared baking sheets. Bake granola at 300F 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. (stirring is mandatory) Cool granola at least 1 hour before serving or storing. Stir in optional add-ins.
Notes
Try these similar recipes next! ♥
Banana Peanut Butter Granola Bars
75+ Super-Skinny Breakfast Recipes
Renew Your Space says
This is wonderful Sarah! I have been thinking about doing this because it’s so expensive, and it’s one thing I am not allergic to. I just bought a big bag of organic gluten-free oats & natural honey so I’m on my way 🙂 (Do you think it would work with honey instead of maple syrup?)
Sarah says
I’m glad I finally shared a recipe that you can make, Renee! I haven’t tested this recipe with honey, but you can certainly try it! LMK how it turns out!
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
This granola sounds delicious! I love banana nut everything. Great tips for perfectly even baked granola. Can’t wait to try : )
Sarah says
You’re going to love this granola, Natalie—Let me know if you try it! 🙂